Manu Propria - Chadô-Nuri making

[manupropria]

Hello,

I was asked to give you some information on urushi making process.
I found a pdf that I have made some months ago showing the manufacturion proces of an ebonite fountain pen with a special urushi finish called "chadô-nuri". The chadô-nuri is one of the "kinsoku mitateai" techniques in which the surface of metal is resembled. "Chadô" is the Japanese word for Copper, so this technique tries to show a worn copper surface.
The design of the pen on the photos I call "kiseru". The name kiseru derives from the Japanese tobacco pipe.

 

[scotian12]

Amazing! Thanks for sharing. Darrell

 

[thewishman]

Absolutely wonderful description and photos! Thank you for sharing - what a careful and exacting process. It must take a lot of planning to create your pens and watch dials.

 

[manupropria]

Thank you.
It takes indeed a lot of time and coordiantion to make lacquer things.
To lacquer a pen taks around one months including the time needed to dry all the layers of lacquer

 

[lwalper]

How neat is that?!! Don't think that will be my next project.

 

[Chasper]

Thanks for sharing.

Edamame pen rest, elegant and simple.

 

[Brooks803]

Hi Martin! So glad to see you here on IAP. I've been a huge fan of your Urushi work. This one is no less amazing than all of your previous works.

You'll be happy to hear that a customer of mine recently purchased one of your pens and was raving about it on the phone with me the other day.

 

[BSea]

That is absolutely beautiful. How durable is the finish?

 

[SteveG]

Your pen making is WAY OUT in a most pleasing location. Thanks for sharing. Amazing work.

 

[manupropria]

Thank you all for your kind words.

Hi Jonathan, thank you for the information. The world is small, isn't it?

Bob, urushi is very durable when executed well and good quality urushi is used.
There were object excavated over 7000 years old still in perfect condition.
The hardness of urushi is around that of glass but urushi stays flexible.
Urushi is resistant against any kind of acid. Urushi is also antibacterial.
In China water tanks and water pipes were lacquered with urushi
Sunlight can destroy urushi. Therefore collectors of urushi pens use a bouch to store the pens but we should understand, that in Japan almost everything was coated with urushi: sword scabbards, armors, stirrups, table ware, wooden constructions of temples and what else. Urushi has survived for centuries on armors used in battels. So I don't think we should be to much affraid to really use an urushi pen

 

[Darley]

Remarkable work and awesome pen, time and patience are key words, thank you for sharing your PDF, it should be placed in the library.